ASEAN membership out of Australia's reach

The Philippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Delia Domingo Albert, has dismissed the possibility that Australia will become a fully fledged member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, despite warmer trade relations.

While describing ASEAN economic ministers' decision to invite Canberra to discuss a common free-trade zone as a "welcome development", Mrs Albert rejected suggestions it could be a stepping stone to full ASEAN membership.

"I don't think membership is being debated . . . it was in the context of free trade that the economic ministers of ASEAN talked," said the former director-general of ASEAN and long-serving ambassador to Australia.

The new warmth in trade relations coincides with the departure of Malaysia's prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, a vocal opponent of closer ties with Australia, and is underscored by the invitation last week to the Prime Minister, John Howard, to attend the ASEAN leaders' meeting in Laos in November.

Mrs Albert - who is in Australia for talks with her Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer, and the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock - described the free-trade discussions as a natural outworking of Australia's long history with ASEAN.

"Australia was the first dialogue partner [with ASEAN]. I think it means a lot - we have been dialogue partners for more than 20 years, so this is a natural development," she said in Sydney at the weekend.

Despite Australia's dialogue partner status and its contribution to the ASEAN Regional Forum on security matters, Mrs Albert said ASEAN itself remained a geographically defined body. "One has to look at the treaty that organised ASEAN in 1967 . . . I don't think it envisages membership [for Australia]."

Mr Downer said yesterday South-East Asian nations were keen for a trade deal now that Australia was no longer begging for acceptance in the region.

"I think one of the problems for Australia in its engagement with Asia . . . has been the sense of Australia breathlessly begging to participate rather than presenting itself as [the] very significant country that it is," he told the Ten Network.

"I think the enormous strength of the Australian economy over the last few years has led people in Asia to take Australia a great deal more seriously."